Nitish Kumar to take oath as CM of Bihar for record 10th time

JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar is set to take oath as the chief minister of Bihar for a record 10th time at Patna's historic Gandhi Maidan on Thursday. Along with him, 19 ministers are expected to take oath.

The swearing-in ceremony will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda and several other top leaders of NDA. The event will also be attended by chief ministers of several NDA-ruled states. Shah and Nadda have already arrived in the state capital.

Kumar resigned as the Bihar CM on Wednesday and then staked claim before Governor Arif Mohammed Khan to form the new government.

Apart from the Cabinet berths for the main NDA constituents, the BJP and JD(U), the other partners of the alliance are also likely to get one ministerial post for every six MLAs to ensure a balanced representation.

According to sources, eight MLAs each from BJP and JD(U) will take oath during the day. On the other hand, one ministerial berth each will likely go to the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) or HAM(S), three to Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).

Those eight JD(U) MLAs include Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Vijay Choudhary, Shrowan Kumar, Lesi Singh, Mohammad Zama Khan, Sunil Kumar and Ashok Chowdhary. So far as BJP MLAs are concerned, Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Kumar Sinha and Renu Devi are also expected to become ministers.

A three-day session of the newly constituted assembly will start from November 26 in which the Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be elected and new members will take oath. The BJP's Prem Kumar is likely to be elected as Speaker of the assembly.

Sources said the new Cabinet will be expanded after Makar Sankranti on January 14 next year. Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place, and over three lakh people are anticipated at the event, a senior official said.

The NDA stormed back to power in Bihar, winning 202 seats in the 243-member assembly, with BJP bagging 89, JD(U) 85, LJP(RV) 19, HAM(S) 5 and RLM 4.